Wrongful death suit

Smith’s parents allege misconduct

Parents of Sylville Smith file lawsuit against the city, ex-officer.

The former Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot Sylville Smith in Sherman Park last summer should never have been hired as an officer based on repeated misconduct, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed the same day fired officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was acquitted of criminal charges by a jury in Smith’s death. The suit was filed against Heaggan-Brown and the City of Milwaukee, which it says is liable for the former officer’s actions.

Heaggan-Brown, 25, still faces sexual assault counts in an incident a day after the Sherman Park shooting. He has been fired by the department.

The former officer also was involved in other acts of misconduct after he came onto the department as a police aide in 2010, the suit says. There were two incidents of excessive speeding, just two days apart, in 2011.

A year later, officers responded to shots fired in Heaggan-Brown’s neighborhood and ended up searching his apartment. Heaggan-Brown, who was still a police aide, was not there, but officers found a dozen other people in his apartment that smelled of marijuana. HeagganBrown was warned afterward but no action was taken, the lawsuit says.

In 2013, HeagganBrown became a police officer on probationary status. That same year, he appeared in a YouTube video in uniform with a marijuana bong on the refrigerator, the suit says.

In 2014, HeagganBrown’s police gun was reported stolen from his closet, it said. The following year, HeagganBrown became a police officer.

Heaggan-Brown was involved in excessive force incidents as an officer including in April 2016, but was not disciplined, the suit says. That lack of consequences emboldened Heaggan-Brown to commit crimes including the sexual assault, the lawsuit says.

“Once they hired him, they deliberately ignored numerous red flags and encouraged his misconduct, blowing past opportunities to supervise, retrain, reassign or discipline him in any way,” it said.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Smith’s parents and his estate, says Heaggan-Brown violated Smith’s rights by shooting him after he had thrown the gun he had. After the shooting, police commanders backed HeagganBrown, following a pattern of standing by officers suspected of violating citizens’ civil rights, it says.

The Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed by a Chicago firm specializing in civil rights cases, cites seven alleged violation of rights including excessive force, failure to follow due process and wrongful death. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.